Monthly recap: October

A little early, but then, I've never been one to follow a strict schedule.

Stats:

Happenings:

1. Lydia turned 19!

2. I started baking cinnamon rolls and selling them because frankly, I do not have a lot of money.

3. I applied to a couple different Mardels and Hobby Lobby, so hopefully I can land a part time job.

4. We finally finished working on the rent house and got the renters (a family from church) moved in. (YAY)

5. I hit the halfway point of my college classes. My total grades are still averaged in the 90's, fingers crossed they stay that way (thus far, I have a perfect GPA and I'm trying to keep it as long as I can). (ALSO YAY)

6. I started looking at cars so I can figure out roughly how much I need to save. The civic is nice, yes, but it's not always reliable and you're practically sitting on the road when you're driving. Only one of the rear doors opens, and only from the inside. It does have pretty good fuel efficiency, but the tank capacity is only somewhere between 10-12 gallons. The a/c sucks, especially if it's been sitting in the sun for more than five minutes. Plus, it's old (older than me). I've found several used F-150s for under $10,000 that seem to be in good condition.

7. Lydia, Christian, and I met up with friends at the Fort Worth Stockyards rodeo. That was pretty fun, we had only ever been to a few rodeos so it was pretty cool.

8. Lydia, Christian, and I met up with two other friends from church to see Priceless. SUCH AN AWESOME MOVIE! But it definitely deserves its pg-13 rating.

9. Gramma and I went to an art museum.

10. Mom accidentally gave herself a second-degree burn when she poured water into an already hot tea kettle.

11. Ma babies (the four younger roosters) started crowing so Dad started chomping at the bit to find them new homes. We'll get to keep one. Only two of them are not so social, but they'll all eat out of my hands. So far, none of them have turned to the darkside, however one of them is the spitting image of Darth Cluck so I named him Kylo Crow.

We get to keep the one with red. He's gonna be a nice one.

12. THIS LITTLE STINKER jumped on my head as soon as I put her on my shoulder. Thankfully there was no visible debri on her feet, but still gross just the same. I was trying to get a nice picture of her and her sister (the chicken on my shoulder whose unflattering side is showing) on either shoulder, but nope. At least the lighting's good, right? RIGHT?

Awkward:

1. Hitting the spacebar on the laptop and expecting it to add a period because that's what it does when I text on my phone.

2. When a chicken launches herself at you as soon as you come out with food, and there's nowhere for her to land, so she just slides down your arm, flapping all the way. WHY, HONEY? WHY? YOUR FEET HAVE CLAWS ON THEM.

Awesome:

1. Dancing in the parking lot after church. I think we may have accidentally started a new tradition.

2. Still being able to have iced tea.

3. THERE IS STILL GREEN GRASS OUTSIDE! WHAT EVEN?!

4. When I floor the gas pedal on the civic it sounds really cool.

5. Frosting from the cinnamon rolls. GUYS, IT'S FROSTING. HOW COULD IT NOT BE AWESOME? I have no problem getting taste-testers to make sure it's good.

6. FALL.

7. Music. Just. MUSIC. 

7. NaNo prep started. My dear fellow blogger, Abi set up a 5K in one day challenge with a hangout on Google Plus. I had the brilliant idea (I'm sure I'll regret it the day of) to say I'd do it. I'll only have one college thing due that day, plus math, so it should be doable. *fingers crossed*

Urg:

1. Realizing that you haven't put the yeast in the cinnamon roll dough after leaving it out for an hour to rise thus having to start over after first going to the store to buy more yeast (and powdered sugar, baking powder, disposable pans, and vegetable oil). They were finally out of the oven, frosted, and cooled sometime between 11-11:30 pm.

2. Feeling like Monday through Wednesday is one long Monday.

3. Not being able to sleep until it hits five in the morning, thus only getting a two hour nap. TRUST ME, I HAVE NO IDEA WHY I COULDN'T SLEEP. I didn't even have coffee. I don't even remember what I did to pass the time. Then I woke up with a strange urge to listen to Russian lullabies. AND I woke up completely energized and not sleepy at all. O.o

Revelations:

1. Chickens like raw cinnamon roll dough. Just not stepping in it, because it is sticky. One of the hens stepped in it just after I had dumped it over the fence. By the time she got out of it, if looks could injure I would have been maimed for life.

2. ICED TEA IS SO GOOD!

Musical finds:

It was an interesting month for music. Kinda went all over the place.

The few country songs are ones I listened to a lot before finally adding them to my country playlist and admitting that I liked that sort of music.

With Cat-like Tread I think was suggested, and I didn't want to use a skip and that's how I remembered this movie: 

It was my childhood, I tell you!

Lighting Lanterns and Syracuse I found while perusing the composer after looking for the Prince Caspian soundtrack. SO PRETTY.

Oraanu Pi I have no memory of how I found or why I decided to listen to it.

Shut up and Dance I've listened to, but it's so catchy.

Mermaids because obviously, POtC.

Dawne Dni (Once Upon a December) one morning I just had this crazy urge to listen to Russian. No idea why. But listen! GORGEOUS, I TELL YOU.

Like, seriously. THERE IS NO RHYME OR REASON TO MY LISTENING PATTERNS.

Snippets:

I tried to plot for NaNo but my brain decided to make me start a completely different novel that is supposed to come later in the series.

“If you must name it, at least don’t name it after some blasted metal.”

            “I think it’s a she.”

            “Shall we go?” Daro was growing impatient.

            “Not yet, featherhead, you’re forgetting about that ‘small’ fire.”

            “Look, I may have feathers instead of hair, but at least I don’t have cat eyes and a fluffy tail that always needs brushing.” Daro crossed his arms defiantly. “Besides, fire’s easy to put out.”

            “Would that I had been paired with Komoc. We may fight like cats and dogs, but at least he doesn’t have a birdbrain.”

~

“None, Adri. She was alone.” Jax said from where he crouched in an intricate bow meant to show respect, but everyone knew it was truly to test the balance and endurance of those who requested an audience with their master.

Jax tried to blow the annoying strands of hair off of his forehead, but ended up blowing a fine layer of dust into his eyes and up his nose. There had been better times to sneeze. Daro shot a glare from his position of the same discomfort. Jax whipped his tail back and forth as he struggled to keep from toppling and squashing his find.

~

“Do you think he knows how to take care of her?”

            Daro whacked the back of Jax’s head.

            “Of course he does, you blockhead! Remember, he was able to raise you, I’m positive she’ll turn out just fine.”

            “But I read somewhere that humans can’t have Faerie food.”

            “I’m sure that she’ll be well looked after,” Daro ruffled Jax’s hair, “she’s not your responsibility now, so you needn’t worry a bit.”

~

LOOK I have a synopsis for NaNo!

A furious dragon Queen. Wouldn’t want to get in her way.

Deception. Adds intrigue, wouldn’t you say?

The arranged marriage long awaited.

Curses. On the Hero or the Villain, who can tell?

A Songbird and a Pirate. Will all end well?

~

Here are some snippets from a scene I wrote for my NaNo project. I'm so proud of it. 

Doran roughly pushed aside some of the men so that he could see whoever had attacked him and his crew. A look of surprise came over his face when he saw that the attacker was no more than a boy, still without a trace of a beard.

            “Why did you attack us?” He questioned, sternly.

            “Attack you?” The boy sat up. “I was merely defending myself!” The boy’s voice hadn’t even begun to change and was quite shrill. “I’ve been watching that buck for weeks to learn his patterns so that when he is older hunting him will be easier, and now look what you’ve done! Not only has he not finished growing, he hasn’t even lasted until the breeding season. Everyone knows not to kill a buck until past the breeding season, or else the population will decrease instead of grow.” The boy glowered under his knit cap, refusing to meet Doran’s eyes.

            “My apologies, but my men will not wait until this ‘breeding season’ is over. They need food, and I’m sure one buck will not make much of a difference this once.” Doran tried to reason.

~

“We need an extra hand aboard The Quiver. You’ve shown that, with practice, you can put up a pretty good fight. Of course, you’d have to pull your share doing other work when we aren’t, ahem, collecting-”

            “You mean pirating?” She raised her eyebrows.

            “Yes, if you must know, we are pirates. Now, will you sail under me? You’ll make an excellent cabin boy.” The man offered his hand to help her up.

            “My apologies,” she mimicked him, ignoring his hand and scrambling up on her own, “you seem to have made a mistake.” She yanked her cap off her head and tossed it over her shoulder. “You see,” she stood toe to toe with him now, “I am not cabin boy material.” She hissed, bringing her braid over so that it rested on her shoulder. “And I will not sail under a pirate!”

(*squeal*)

~

Doran raised his eyebrows in the general direction of his first mate.

            “What are we to do?” He whispered once they were far enough away.

            “Do? Why sir, if I’d knowed that she was, well… a she, I’d’ve advised you to avoid stepping in that puddle at all costs.”

            “I know that, but I already stepped in it and sunk up to my knees. Now I’m asking you, what do we do with her?”

            “Well sir, seeing as how you’d be the one making the stew, I’d be obliged if you be the one eating it.” The first mate chuckled under his breath.

            “Are you trying to say that she is my problem, Mr. Gaerry?”

            “That’ll be the long and short of it, sir.” Mr. Gaerry glanced over Doran’s shoulder, “and by the looks of it, you might want to start thinking fast. Your stew appears to be in need of stirring.”

            Doran heard the girl stomp up behind him.

~

Look what I made! PLAYLISTS FOR MY STORIES!

Caged Bird:

The Silverbird:

The Songbird:

The Inventor's Daughter:

How was your month?

Are you going to do NaNo?

How's plotting coming?

What music do you listen to while writing?